By Shannon Ness, The Salt Company Coordinator
To kick off the year, Freshmen Group took 57 students to the Passion conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The trip was great for uniting the students of Salt Company in Iowa City and also for encouraging students to be on fire for the Gospel in Iowa City. Louie Giglio ended the conference by explaining that the purpose of the conference was to gather people to be scattered throughout the United States with the Gospel. After the conference, we loaded up on the buses and shared stories of exactly how we plan on doing that.
Some students were encouraged to join Salt leadership in Iowa City as a way to be help accountable and encouraged by the Gospel. Others shared about their plans to take the Gospel to East Asia this summer. And others said, “Hey! I want to see that happen.” So they decided to give money to help further to Kingdom by supporting other students to evangelize in East Asia.
One student got on the bus microphone and shared a story from his time in Atlanta. He found himself lost in a sketchy part of town at night. His phone only had 1% battery so he couldn’t look up directions or call anyone. The feeling of fear was overwhelming to him and doubt started to creep into his mind. He decided that he needed to fight his fear and doubts by pulling out his Bible. Long story short, he realized that he wants to come back to Iowa City with a humble, trusting posture towards God. Even when he feels “lost” in regards to his major and without friends, he dedicated his heart and mind to seeking God before giving in to fear.
Now that we are all back in Iowa City, Freshmen Group is in full swing and so is The Salt Company. This past week attendance was up 100 people from the week before, which was encouraging. We are praying that God continues to give these freshmen boldness to invite more friends to partake in the life that can be found nowhere but in Jesus Christ.
